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I have the messermeister and it has served me well, but I only have it because I work in a kitchen. If you only use your knives at home and need a knife to get a bit better of an edge then you can just strop it on you highest grit stone a few times. If you want it get it, but for a home cook I doubt you truly need it.

"Sucking at something is the first step to becoming sorta good at something." -Jake the Dog

That looks like a really nice list. The Uraku carbon knife should be easy to get sharp, and be very versatile. I agree with greasedbullet, too. No need to spend a big chunk of change on the paring knife just yet. Opinel or Victorinox will get you going, for less money.

As far as a ceramic rod goes... well, I have one. But I find I use my home-made balsa wood strop more often. If I had a whole kitchen-full of carbon Sabatiers or stainless German knives, then I'm sure the ceramic rod would get used all the time. But, for harder steels, I like the strop. I've got mine loaded with 1.0 micron Cubic Boron Nitride, but people also say good things about the green chrome oxide compounds, which you can get pretty readily on Amazon.

you can buy balsa wood really cheap at arts and supply stores. just glue or tape the wood to whatever surface or board to make it suitable for stropping

Exactly. Super easy. You could use the balsa wood just as it comes from the store, but it is light enough that it moves around under the knife if you don't hold it, so gluing it to a base makes it more stable. I've just got mine glued to a plank of pine wood I had laying around. One day, I'm going to get fancy and put rubber feet on it.

I'll pick some up on the way back from Lee Valley Tools then! Does anybody know where I can get Green Chrome Oxide? It doesn't seem to be available on Amazon Canada, and my reading online indicates that the compound Lee Valley sells contains 50%+ aluminum oxide.

I think a 400/2000 grit stone is better for a beginner than a 1k/6k. You are rewarded much quicker when you get things right on a 400 grit stone. Buy the best "inexpensive" knife you can. The big thing here is buying stones. If you learn to sharpen you can get crappy knives really sharp. Contrarily, without knowing how to sharpen, that really sharp knife (expensive) is a temporary thing.

"So you want to be a vegetarian? Hitler was a vegetarian and look at how he turned out."